Playground Politics: Understanding the Emotional Life of Your School-Age Child

by Stanley I. Greenspan, Jacqueline Salmon

Playground Politics is the first book to look at the neglected middle years of childhood--from kindergarten to junior high--and to help parents understand the enormous emotional challenges these children are facing. In witty, vivid stories, Dr. Greenspan brings to life the major emotional milestones of these years, when children move from the shelter of the family to the harsh rivalries of "playground politics," and toward an independent self image. His empathy for the turmoil children bring home from school, and for the parents who try to help, is deep and reassuring.

Genres: Parenting, Education, Nonfiction, Psychology

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stanley Greenspan (June 1, 1941 – April 27, 2010)[1] was an American child psychiatrist and clinical professor of Psychiatry, Behavioral Science, and Pediatrics at George Washington University Medical School. He was best known for developing the floortime approach for attempting to treat children with autistic spectrum disorders and developmental disabilities.[2]

He was Chairman of the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders and also a Supervising Child Psychoanalyst at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute. A graduate of Harvard College and Yale Medical School,[2] Greenspan was the founding president of Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families and former director of the National Institute of Mental Health's Clinical Infant Developmental Program and Mental Health Study Center.[3]

Reviews

[Jane]

I might try it again, it seems like it'd be good, I just kept picking it up and putting it back down.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Dr. Greenspan’s lens on the tremendous emotional growth in children in what is often called the latency period after the growth spurt of early childhood and before puberty and adolescents

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stanley Greenspan is a child psychologist and I base a lot of my therapy at work on his ideas about children with special needs. But this book is about the develpment of all school aged children. I read it over and over again as my step son gets older and it really helps me understand some of the crazy things he does.

[Giedra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book provided great information on the developmental stages kids go through from ages 5-12, and the kinds of things parents can do to help make kids feel secure enough at home to be able to weather all the things that go on at school in the early schooling years to prepare themselves for puberty and the teen years.

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 5 steps (1. Floor Time, 2. Problem-Solving Time, 3. Understanding Child's Point-of-View, 4. Breaking the Challenge Into Smaller Pieces, & 5. Setting Limits) were consistent. I also liked how this book was not just all-theory, but they went thru several case-studies showing how the steps were applied to differ children dealing with different situations & challenges.

[Angelia]

He is a renowned Child Psychiatrist that I saw and heard speak at an Autism conference long ago and I thought his overall philosophy of a child's emotional development was right on. I have been wanting to read this book for years!!

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The goal of this book is to give parents tools to understand their children and to aid in their emotional development. It's about twice as long as it needs to be, but I believe in his approach and appreciate the concrete examples.

[arjuna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. It's lovely to see this sort of thing actually written down without all the BS and psychobabble.

[Betsey Hanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

We spend a lot of time talking to kids about bullying and how to handle it which is great. But, I think we have neglected to teach our children how to simply be kind to one another.

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book about parenting an early school aged child. I took away some good insights that I'll put to use.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good insight into developmental phases of ages 6-12.